Michael Mosley, center, looks toward the gallery of the courtroom Monday in Rensselaer County Court. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Michael Mosley, center, looks toward the gallery of the courtroom Monday in Rensselaer County Court. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN

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Michael Mosley

Michael Mosley

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Expert: Killings appeared 'sloppy'

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TROY -- An expert on blood-stain evidence told jurors Monday she believes a single killer slaughtered a couple in their Brunswick Road home in 2002 during an attack that left behind telling clues and signs of a struggle.

"It's unplanned, it's sloppy and there's a lot of physical evidence at the scene," testified Laura Pettler as she walked jurors through a Power Point presentation in Rensselaer County Court during the first-degree murder trial of Michael Mosley, 41, of Averill Park.

The defendant faces a possible sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of killing Arica Lynn Schneider, 18, and her boyfriend, Samuel "Frost" Holley, 27, who were discovered repeatedly stabbed in their 29 Brunswick Rd. apartment on Jan. 26, 2002.

Mosley faces evidence that includes his blood and palm print found at the scene. His attorney, Terence L. Kindlon, contends his client stopped by the home after cutting his hand on a snowboard one day earlier.

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He has said his client found the victims but did not kill them.

But Pettler, 36, a former country music singer and now one of 350 certified elite crime scene analysts in the country, suggested it was unlikely someone with a bandaged hand could leave such blood behind.

And that was just one part of the North Carolina woman's testimony that could severely hurt Mosley's contention of innocence.

Pettler was initially expected to testify on behalf of Terrence Battiste and Bryan Berry, who were charged with the murders in 2007. Pettler suggested -- two years before Mosley was linked to the crime last year through DNA -- the attack could have been the work of a single killer.

Charges against the men were dropped. Pettler is now a prosecution witness.

On Monday, she said her theory of one attacker has not changed. She confidently led jurors through her computer-aided presentation like a professor teaching a class. At one point she even asked the jury, "Any questions?" She quickly apologized.

Pettler said the killings appeared to be in the category of "argument murder ... consistent with some kind of spontaneous event."

Upon questioning from Assistant District Attorney Christa Book, Pettler presented her scenario of the night of the murders as follows:

The attacker -- described as "Suspect 1" -- entered the victims' apartment building through the front door. He walked down a hallway and possibly knocked on their front door.

Holley, a cautious drug dealer who would not answer the door for just anyone, let the person inside.

At some point, Holley was stabbed in the kitchen, incapacitated and moved into the living room.

Schneider awoke, went into the living room to defend her boyfriend and ended up in a struggle.

Her body was found with blood "transfer patterns" indicating it had been moved into the bedroom. The proximity of Schneider's blood and blood from the attacker -- alleged to be Mosley -- was found "too close together" not to be connected.

A drop of Schneider's blood on a bathroom wall indicated the killer stopped there.

A bag of clothing with blood evidence and a serrated blade was later found by the body. It appeared the attacker may have simply left through the front door.

Pettler, when talking about the bag of clothes, referenced a conversation with a Troy police officer. Kindlon blasted it as hearsay and "out of the sky." He was overruled.

He will cross-examine the witness Tuesday.

During Monday's testimony, an investigator said police dug up Holley's body in 2007 to compare his palm to the prints at the scene. A similar effort was made with Schneider's hand, but her remains were too decomposed, he said.